OTHER PONTIFICAL ACTS

Vatican City,  (VIS) - The Holy Father:

- Appointed as consultors of the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims within the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue: Fr. Cornelius Afebu Omonokhua, director of the Department for Inter-religious Dialogue of the Catholic Secretariat of Nigeria; Fr. Amir Jaje O.P., secretary of the Episcopal Commission for Inter-religious Dialogue of the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Iraq; Fr. Felix Korner S.J., professor of the theology of religions at the Pontifical Gregorian University; Rotraud Wielandt, professor of Islamic studies at the University of Bamberg, Germany; Ian Netton, vice director of Arab and Islamic studies at the University of Exeter and professor of Islamic studies at Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and Romana Bashir, head of the Christian Study Centre in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

- Appointed Bishop Kevin W. Vann of Fort Worth, U.S.A., as bishop of Orange in California (area 2,025, population 3,037,000, Catholics 1,291,000, priests 269, permanent deacons 96, religious 412), U.S.A. He succeeds Bishop Tod D. Brown, whose resignation from the pastoral care of the same diocese the Holy Father accepted, upon having reached the age limit.

- Accepted the resignation from the pastoral care of the diocese of Rochester, U.S.A., presented by Bishop Matthew H. Clark, upon having reached the age limit.